Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Mercury drove down the street lined with vape emporiums and charity shops. People were openly staring.

"Maybe arriving at my community service in my mother's BMW X5 was a bad move," he said to himself.

Oh well, he couldn't change it now. The nerves were really jangling around his system. It had taken him ages to choose the right outfit. The balance between being too showy while being true to himself was a fine one. In the end he'd gone for a pair of skinny black Boss jeans and a vintage Dolly Parton T-shirt. On his feet, he wore blue Converse boots.

He liked the finished vibe. Hopefully, the kids at Bodhi House would too.

The night before, he'd finished his research. Bodhi House was a youth project aimed at giving kids in a deprived area a place to go. It sounded right up Mercury's street.

The satnav told him he was nearly there. With another flash of nerves, he turned off the main drag. Edwardian semi-detached houses that had seen better days lined the street.

About halfway up, he saw a bright orange sign with Bodhi House written in green. The garden at the front had blooms of every colour. As did the house next door.

That's interesting. I wonder if the neighbours help them or if they help the neighbours.

Mercury parked up. As he got out of the car, he patted it. "I hope I'll see you later."

With a dry mouth, Mercury walked up the garden path and knocked on the front door. Once again, he cursed Grim under his breath. That piece of shit had sold out his collection and had been in almost every Sunday newspaper's cultural section. Of course, all the interviews had focused on how he was on rebuilding his life after Mercury's vicious attack.

"Twat," Mercury muttered.

He rang the doorbell and waited. His heart was going like a machine gun now.

A haughty man opened the door. Short with mousy brown hair, he looked Mercury up and down.

"Can I help?"

"Mercury Morrison. Are you Nick Campbell?"

"No."

"Well, can I speak to him please?"

Wordlessly, the man led Mercury down a hallway. They walked into a large room, dominated by a huge window that let the sunshine flood through. Two bright orange sofas filled the room, with beanbags scattered around. Posters for bands Mercury had never heard of covered the walls.

In the middle stood an absolute vision of a man. For a second, Mercury completely forgot what he was doing here.

"Oh, hello," he stammered.

"Mercury?"

He nodded.

"I'm Nick Campbell."

Nick was tall, dark-skinned, with a buzzcut and deep brown eyes. Mercury was absolutely blown away. He radiated sex in an olive T-shirt and light blue jeans. Mercury would probably have advised a tight white T-shirt on such a warm summer's day, but even so. Wow.

"Hi, Nick. Yes, I'm Mercury."

"And I see you've met Gavin."

Mercury gave the man a nervous smile. Gavin rewarded him with an icy glare.

Nick walked over and peered out of the window.

"Are you expecting someone else?" Mercury asked.

"I'm not blind to who you are, Mercury," Nick said. "I don't want photographers hanging around."

"I'm not going to lie," Mercury said. "The odd one might bother us. I'm hardly royalty—I don't think we'll have a mob. I'm not here for bullshit. I want to get this over as smoothly as possible. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Very honest. I'm impressed. Come with me. Gavin, please can you make sure the art room has enough paint? They're all really into art at the moment."

"Sure," Gavin said. He stalked out of the room.

Mercury had obviously made an enemy. He remained at a loss to explain why.

He and Nick walked through into the kitchen. It was almost as big as Mercury's at home and filled with lots of equipment.

"Wow," Mercury said.

"We run cooking classes," Nick explained. "A local restaurant chain sponsors them and gifted us all this stuff. We're very lucky. The other room through there is a cinema room. We don't have the latest equipment. We were lucky that one of the kids' fathers was throwing out a projector so I thought why not."

"Why not indeed," Mercury replied.

"Film club is on a Wednesday. The kids love it. Sometimes I'll throw in a curveball like Some Like It Hot . Any suggestions gratefully received."

Mercury pondered that for a second. "I'm not much of a film buff. Give me a Marvel movie and I'll be happy."

Nick regarded him with curiosity. "I can see we might have to educate you too."

"Bring it on. So, tell me about the kids who come here."

Nick's face lit up. "They are brilliant. Well, most of them. Of course, occasionally we get a bad apple but they either sort themselves out or they leave. We don't entertain drama at Bodhi House."

"How old are they?"

"Between eleven and eighteen. The most formative time when they're saying goodbye to childhood and facing being an adult. Not always the easiest thing in a place like this."

Mercury breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad it's teenagers. Children terrify me."

Nick appraised him. "I hope you don't live to regret those words. This mob might be different to teenagers you've experienced in Kensington."

"Maybe on the surface," Mercury replied. "Anyway, like I said, I'm here to learn and work. Where are they all now?"

"It's the last day of school before the holidays. They come here seven until nine in the morning and three until eight after school. All that changes next week when they drift in and out whenever they like. Obviously, there are timetabled events but I want them to see this as a home from home. It's really helpful with their independence development."

"And what about me?"

"I expect you to be here from nine until five as a minimum. Feel free to drift in and out in the same way."

Mercury glanced at him. The glint in Nick's eye seemed to be a permanent resident. Mercury liked it very much.

"Sadly, I'm on a curfew."

He lifted his jeans to show the electronic tag that already annoyed the crap out of him. He wished he could trade another month at Bodhi House instead of having to have that monstrosity strapped to his ankle.

"Oh, they are a pain in the arse," Nick said. "You have my sympathy."

Mercury was taken aback for a second and it must have shown on his face.

"You okay?" Nick asked.

"That's the first time someone hasn't judged me."

Nick clapped him on the shoulder. "There are people far better educated than me to pass judgement. We don't do that here. Well, not about your past anyway."

"Oh, yes? What am I going to be judged on?"

"Your ability to make tea," Nick said.

He handed Mercury a mug that had seen better days. It had a faded picture of the Spice Girls on it. Mercury took it and regarded it with amusement.

"You're a Spice Girls fan?"

Nick shrugged. "So, sue me. Mine's with milk and one sugar. The kettle's over there. Meet me in the office next door when you're done."

"Roger that."

Mercury watched him go. Nick's jeans clung to his arse like a second skin. And what an arse it appeared to be.

Stop thinking like that. You're here to do a job. Nothing more, nothing less.

Still. It didn't hurt to look.

Mercury placed the mug down on Nick's desk. He'd struggled to find a space amongst the papers, magazines, brochures and used cereal bowls, plates and glasses. It appeared Mr Nick Campbell spent a lot of time in this room.

Nick's desk sat in the bay window and another smaller desk stood at a right angle to it. On that desk was a very old desktop computer and a worryingly large pile of A4 notebooks.

Peering into the mug, Nick looked up at Mercury.

"And this is tea?"

"Of course it's tea," Mercury replied.

Nick exhaled and took hold of the mug. "I suppose the proof is in the pudding."

He blew on the steaming liquid and took a sip. "Oh, wow," he said, putting the mug down and grimacing. "At least we'll be sending you away with one skill."

Mercury was a bit put out. "I did my best."

"I'm only teasing. It's fine. Honestly."

"Fine is not a word to aim for."

With his foot, Nick pulled out the chair at the spare desk. "Take a seat, Mercury, and we'll have a chat about what I need from you. Other than a decent cup of tea. The Spice Girls deserve better."

Mercury sat. Every fibre of his being wanted to defend himself. Nick might very well be testing him. He would pass that test.

"Then I am your humble student, Mr Campbell."

They both laughed.

"That's a good answer, Mr Morrison. I can see there's more to you than your public image would have us believe. This could be very interesting."

Was he flirting? Again, there would be no time for that. Mercury had to stay focused. He didn't need any more trouble in his life.

"What do you need me to work on?"

"See that stack of logbooks?" Nick asked, pointing at the pile on the desk. "The staff here are required to keep notes of relevant things. So, we write them down in these books. The idea is that we make documents for each child so their social workers or other professionals who work with them have all the information they need. The kids are aware of this, believe me."

"Staff?" Mercury asked.

"Yes, there are two other people who work here with me. You've met Gavin."

Mercury tried his best not to shudder. He supposed he should have taken a drink up to him. He didn't much fancy getting another icy blast of disapproval.

"Who else?"

"Cath is my saviour. I wouldn't keep his place running without her. We have people come in and do things like art classes. They're amazing. The kids really get their emotions down on paper."

Mercury shuffled his chair to the desk and lifted the first book up. He opened it and was greeted by a lot of practically indecipherable writing.

"Wow," he said. "I hope none of them are teaching handwriting."

"Hey, that's one of my entries," Nick replied.

Mercury turned to him. "Then maybe I can be a teacher as well as a student while I'm here."

"I welcome your skills," Nick replied. "For now, perhaps get cracking. There are a few other boxes when you've got through those."

"What am I doing with them?"

Nick looked at him. The stare was quite off-putting.

"Go through each book and extract passages to do with each child."

The pile of books was overwhelming. Never mind a ton of other boxes waiting in the wings.

"Fine," he said. "I'm so relieved my criminal checks came through so quickly. Imagine if I'd not been able to do this. All the fun I would have missed."

"It's not supposed to be fun," Nick replied.

Mercury flicked through the book. If he stared harder, the scrawl did become a semblance of words. He should have brought his glasses though. Not that he usually wore them outside of the house. Still, he certainly wasn't trying to impress with his sartorial choices at Bodhi House.

"What's the matter?" Nick asked.

"Nothing," Mercury replied, rolling his sleeves up.

He hadn't quite expected to be faced with such an undertaking. Still, he had every intention of succeeding at Bodhi House. He would give it his best.

An hour passed with them both getting on with their tasks. Mercury had worked out that if he had a document per child, he could flip between them rather than going through each book multiple times.

Soon he found quite a lengthy entry about a young man called Eddie. His mother had multiple sclerosis and he was her main carer at only fifteen. It appeared he came to the House for two hours every weeknight.

The entry focused on Eddie's love of cooking. They had been running a class and he had been the best by a long way. They'd made scones. The teacher had noticed that Eddie's behaviour had changed hugely. He had engaged and produced double the amount of his classmates. It also mentioned that Eddie had recently been suspended from school for truancy.

Anyone with half a brain could see he had been staying at home with his mother. This poor kid had more responsibility than Mercury had experienced in his whole life yet the world seemed against him.

"I'll do everything I can to help here," Mercury said.

It was the first time either of them had spoken for a while. Nick turned from his laptop.

"What are you reading?"

"About Eddie," Mercury said, his voice cracking. "Truancy? What the fuck?"

"Technically, it is. Yet, his mum can't always be left."

Mercury shook his head. "Aren't there carers?"

"Sometimes," Nick replied. "Not always. Hence why he stays at home."

"Then why can't the school understand that?"

Nick shrugged. "Because sometimes managing by spreadsheet doesn't always work."

Mercury pushed the book away. He needed a break.

"It seems so unfair. Are they supposed to accept it and take the fine?"

He walked over to the window and stared through the net curtains. The room overlooked the back garden. It was also pristine.

"Mercury," Nick said. "I don't want to patronise you. This is going to be a massive fucking culture shock. It's absolutely wonderful that you care and I would never, ever discourage you from that."

"What are you saying?"

"Keep a little distance. You have to. For your sanity and also to prevent silly mistakes. These children are vulnerable no matter how they present. We're here to make sure they're protected. Even if it's only for the short time they're visiting us."

"I understand."

A flash of uncertainty passed through Mercury. Bodhi House couldn't be further from the world he inhabited. Yet, he found himself hoping that the kids would like him. He stole a glance at Nick, who was frowning at his computer screen.

Keep a little distance? I might manage that with the kids. Nick Campbell, on the other hand, could be a whole different challenge.